Tuesday 2nd December 2025
Colin D Johnston
“… God had provided something better …”
Hebrews 11:40a (NRSV)
Walking in trust
In the Palestinian village of Ibellin in the Galilee, a new Melkite church was completed just over 10 years ago. Around the four walls is a rather wonderful frieze, illustrating saints and heroes of the faith from earliest days till present times. Most are in flowing robes with haloes on their heads, but the group in more modern dress is the most arresting. It includes Dorothy Day, the social activist, Archbishop Oscar Romero, Mother Theresa and Archbishop Desmond Tutu with his mischievous grin. At that time Desmond wasn’t even dead and was of course an Anglican, but the priest-in-charge of the church was equally mischievous!
I often think of that frieze when I read Hebrews Chapter 11. It is a roll call of the heroes of the faith from the Hebrew Scriptures, people like Enoch who walked by faith and Abraham who set off in trust into the unknown, as well as more unsavoury types like Jepthah. They waited. They hoped. They walked in trust. None of them saw the full picture, but they moved forward in faith.
Our passage today is quite gory and tells of people being persecuted and tortured. Yet the author of Hebrews was writing this to energize his fellow believers in what were challenging times. They too faced persecution, mockery and even death because they bore the name of Christ, but were being encouraged to keep the faith. We too live in challenging times. In Gaza the small Christian minority cling on in the face of bomb and bullet, yet remain faithful. In Scotland we too face challenging times for our Kirk, but we too wait, and we hope, and we trust just like our foremothers and forefathers did, not knowing the full picture, but moving faithfully into the future. At this season let us live out that Advent hope.
Shall we pray?
A prayer from Hosam Naoum, Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, who spoke so movingly at the General Assembly this year:
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world:
In your mercy, provide for all those in Gaza and beyond who suffer from hunger and starvation, that they may be given both physical bread to nourish their bodies and heavenly bread to sustain their souls.
By the power of your Spirit, bring a speedy end to this cruel war, the release of all captives, care for the sick and wounded, comfort for those who have lost loved-ones, and the opening of a pathway for a just and lasting peace here in the very homeland where your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, ministered during his earthly life;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen
Colin D Johnston is minister of Cheviot Churches linked with Kelso Old & Sprouston. He lived and worked in Israel and Palestine for several years, visiting Gaza on a number of occasions.